Ouvea - A very special place

Like Fakarava and Toau in the Tuamotus or sweet Suvarov in the Cook Islands, Ouvea is indeed a special place in New Caledonia. Unlike Tuamotus or Cook Islands, coming to Ouvea is quite easy if you are sailing around New Caledonia, but even if you are not sailing, there are daily short flights from Noumea. Cost of accommodation might be an issue if you are not on your yacht but there are options with tribal 'gites' or tribal camping grounds or the very beautiful and luxurious Paradise resort, worthwhile checking.

We arrived at the pass of Coetlogon in Ouvea's south-west coast at noon having left Baie de Santal in Lifou at 4:00 AM. The pass is narrow but it's well marked. At noon visibility was perfect and we could make out the reef on both sides of the pass. There was a small boat with divers in the reef next to Moule island and we thought for a moment to stop at the anchorage in the lagoon entrance (Ile Moule) to snorkel in the reef but at the end decided to keep going to Fayaoue as per original plan. Sailing inside the lagoon is easy with no dangers if you keep at least 1.5 miles from the beach at about 10 meters depth.

I was enjoying the scenery, the 25 km of a long beach with white sand surrounded by coconut trees and amazing turquoise waters while Oscar was busy cleaning the 2 big fishes he got underway from Lifou. The first fish was a 8.5 kg mahi-mahi enough for several dinners but then he decided to try another one 'to get a gift for the chief in Fayaoue' and this time he got a 7 kg tuna. At this point, while he is busy cleaning the fish and the mess I'm sure he is wondering why he got so enthusiastic, for sure one fish was more than enough! On top of this he realizes now that there is no chief to see where we are going. Oh well, we got fish for the next 2 weeks' dinners (and probably lunches as well).

A tuna AND a mahi-mahi!

 We finally arrived to our destination and marveled at this superb place. Next day we rented a car. We didn't know where the rental car office was and went to the 'magazine' (the grocery store) to find out, using our best broken French. The lady at the store was very nice and she called the car rental for us using her excellent French. Five minutes later the rental car was at the shop's door for us.

We drove the one and only road, north to south. The island is a narrow strip along the lagoon on one side and the open seas on the other side. Some places you can see both sides at the same time. At the north tip, in Saint Joseph, we took the Nimek tour with Mr Antoine. This was a wonderful tour, walking along the beach where few people visit. You see turtles, sharks, crabs, sea snails, a plant that releases a sun protection gel when you embed with sea water and much more. You walk crossing a pass when the tide is low and end up in a dream place where we stopped for a picnic. Antoine tells all kind of stories about Ouvea, its customs and believes from their ancestors and he even gave us a lesson on how to fish with their typical net. All registered in film, which we'll post soon. We had a fantastic day and highly recommend the tour if you come to Ouvea (Mr. Antoine 98 72 05). I should mention that Antoine's English is not so good but between our little French, his little English and the lovely couple from Tunisia that speaks both languages we actually had no linguistic issues.

We could have stayed in Ouvea for ages, but we need to keep moving and there is a good weather window coming up to make the 200 miles trip to Port Vila, so we get ready to leave Fayaoue with the idea of crossing the lagoon all the way to the North and either stop for a night at Ilots Deguala or just get out the pass between Deguala and Jumeaux and get underway to Vanuatu.
G.

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